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Marcin Wicha - Things I Didn't Throw Out (2nd Hand Softback)
SKU B003049
Availability:
1 available
Original price
£3.70
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Original price
£3.70
Original price
£3.70
£3.70
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£3.70
Current price
£3.70
Synopsis
Winner of The English Pen Award.
Translated by Marta Dziurosz.
A wry and unsentimental account of the attempt to understand a parent as an independent person with their own history.
Lamps, penknives, paperbacks, mechanical pencils, inflatable headrests. Marcin Wicha’s mother Joanna was a collector of everyday objects. When she dies and leaves her apartment intact, Wicha is left to sort through her things. Through them, he begins to construct an image of Joanna as a Jewish woman, a mother, and a citizen.
As Poland emerged from the Second World War into the material meanness of the Communist regime, shortages of every kind shaped its people in deep and profound ways. What they chose to buy, keep - and, arguably, hoard - tells the story of contemporary Poland.
Joanna’s Jewishness, her devotion to work, her formidable temperament, her weakness for consumer goods, all accumulate into an unforgettable portrait of a woman and, ultimately, her country.
Details
- Format : Standard 2nd Hand Softback with French Fold Sleeves
- Condition : As New
- Category : Non-Fiction : Autobiography & Biography
- Published : 2021 (Daunt Books Originals)
- ISBN : 9781914198021
- SKU : B003049
- PPC : SP300gm
- RRP : £9.99
- Quantity Available : 1 only.
External Reviews
'Vivid and sharply written . . . the book shows how objects are often where memories reside. It also expresses . . . the impossible human effort to end up with an adequate inventory of what was lost.' - Hisham Matar.
'Wicha is Poland’s answer to David Sedaris, devastatingly funny about the minutiae of family life and the foibles of the elders.' - Irish Times.
'I loved it; so funny, clever and moving. So impressively unsentimental. And, of course, I adored all the bits about books and the precise, unflinching portrait of Joanna.' - Cathy Rentzenbrink.
The Author
Marcin Wicha was born in Warsaw in 1972. A graphic designer and writer, he is one of Poland’s most successful contemporary writers and the author of a number of bestselling children’s books, as well the winner of Poland biggest literary prizes for his adult writing. In 2017 he published Rzeczy, których nie wyrzuciłem (Things I Didn’t Throw Out), which became a bestseller and won the Polityka Passport award and the prestigious Nike Literary Award.